Insights Into Childhood: How Intentionality and a Healthy Environment Can Support Regulation (Series Begins Oct. 27, 2025)

For this webinar series, participants will automatically be enrolled in all 5 sessions.

Speaker

Donna Gorman, M.Ed., The Inspirational Educator

Description

In this webinar series, we will explore how our own senses and interactions play a direct role on how well our children can access their best selves for optimal learning. We will explore intentionality, sensory processing, self regulation and a positive approach to behavior management that builds on connection rather than correction. Helping the educator build awareness of the power of their own state of mind and body can create a space that allows our children to grow and learn within themselves and achieve their highest state of awareness and learning.

To receive PDPs and CEUs, participants must attend all 5 sessions and successfully pass a quiz following Session 5. Within 24 hours of the live webinar, registrants will be emailed a link to view the recorded webinar. The recording will be made available for 7 days after each session. If you are not eligible for PDPs and/or CEUs, you may apply for a Certificate of Attendance.

In this session, we will explore Social-Emotional learning as part of the Conscious Discipline philosophy. Focusing on the brain state, we can better understand how children interpret and respond to stressors and how we can focus on connection to help them move to a more regulated and functional response to everyday stress and help them remain in an optimal brain state for learning. 

As we began to explore in the first session, self-regulation is key to managing our emotions and identifying our needs.  We practice this often with children, but it is equally important to stay regulated as an adult in the classroom. We will explore ways to identify stress in ourselves, regulate those strong emotions and model self-regulation for the children we work with. 

The way that our bodies interpret and regulate internal and external stimuli can drive our behavioral responses. In this session, we will begin to explore how sensory processing can cause dysregulation in both children and adults and how we can better understand and respond to the body’s specific sensory needs to create a healthy learning environment for children. 

In order to remain intentional with our words and actions, we need to focus on being aware, conscious and deliberate. This can be difficult in a classroom of children or when feeling stressed by an outside situation. In this session, we will explore the importance and benefits of intentionality and how to create space in our responses to ensure that children consistently have access to the best version of themselves.

Our final session will bring together all the concepts and frameworks we discussed in the previous sessions and allow us to begin to put these skills into practice. We will explore additional tools to add to our classroom space to help children and adults better regulate their emotions and adequately understand their sensory processing. Any questions from participants will be addressed during this final session. 

About the Speaker

Donna Gorman, M.Ed., (she/her) holds a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education with a focus in Special Needs. She has 8 years’ experience as an Early Intervention Specialist. Currently, she works as the Program Quality Specialist for Catholic Charities Child Care and OST programs of Greater Boston. She has also created her own small business, The Inspirational Educator, offering educator trainings, family workshops and advocacy support to families. Find more information and subscribe to her blog, The Inspirational Educator.

Membership Information

Most MPY webinars are available ONLY to current staff from member districts and organizations. Public school memberships include police and fire personnel. Former and retired employees and members of committees, including but not limited to, PTO/PTA, PAC, School Improvement Councils, Health Councils, Drug/Alcohol Councils, and school volunteers, are not considered MPY members.

PDPs and CEUs

MPY is an approved Professional Development Provider through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (Provider No. F20180079). Professional Development Points (PDPs) are offered for most MPY professional development webinars. PDPs are issued in 10 hour increments, per DESE requirements.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for clinical staff through the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association, Inc. (MaMHCA). The NASW and the MaMHCA approve each event individually. CEUs may be given in hourly increments.

To receive PDPs and CEUs, participants must pass the quiz following Session 5.

Event Cancellation Policy

If you are unable to attend a MPY webinar you must cancel, through Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org, one business day before the webinar.

For MPY hybrid conferences, the date in-person registration closes will be posted on MPY’s website. Virtual conference registration will close one business day before the hybrid conference. You cannot cancel or switch your registration from in-person to virtual after in-person registration closes. Please email Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org with any questions regarding registration.

 

Register

FREE
MEMBER PRICING
Register Now

If you are seeking to receive CEUs and/or PDPs, please click Register Now. Once you complete the webinar series, you will be able to take quizzes for CEUs and/or PDPs. Upon completion of each quiz, you will receive a certificate.

All sessions are 12:00 – 2:00 pm

  • Session 1: October 27, 2025, Behavior Management and Conscious Discipline
  • Session 2: November 10, 2025, Self-Regulation in Children and Adults
  • Session 3: November 24, 2025, Sensory Processing
  • Session 4: December 8, 2025, Intentional Interactions with Children, Ourselves and Coworkers
  • Session 5: December 15, 2025, Putting It All Together to Create an Optimal Classroom Environment